Amazon Adventures

Chapter Fifteen: Sticking With You

In the heart of the Amazon jungle, Bia was observing a rare owl butterfly as it rested on a tree branch, lightly flapping it's wings.

"Incredible." She whispered in awe, taking care not to scare it away.

"Hey, Bia!" Tiago yelled as he landed beside her. "Whatchya doin'?"

The owl butterfly flew off, spooked.

"Tiago!" Bia groaned. "You scared it away!"

"What?" Tiago asked. "That ugly bug?"

"That was a very rare owl butterfly." Tiago declared. "I've been tracking it all morning, trying to get close enough to see it up close. I finally got close enough, and your yelling scared it off!"

"Sor-ry." Tiago snorted. "What's the big deal, anyway? It's just a bug! There's tons of 'em around here."

"You just don't get it, do you?" Bia frowned. "Then again, why would you? You don't know a thing about entomology."

"Enta-wha?" Tiago gaped.

"The study of insects." Bia clarified. "All you know how to do is goof off."

"If by 'goof off' you mean 'have fun'!" Tiago retorted. "Not like you. You think reading books and looking at bugs all day is fun!"

"Because it is fun, bird-brain!" Bia took a step forward.

"Sez you, bookworm!" Tiago also stepped forward, getting beak-to-beak with his sister. "You don't know what real fun is. I could have more fun than you in my sleep!"

"Then why don't you?" Bia shot back. "Maybe then I could finally have some peace!"

"Fine!" Tiago yelled.

"Fine!" Bia shouted.

They both turned to leave... then suddenly found themselves pulled back, knocking into each others' heads.

"Ow!" Bia yelped. "What was that for?"

"What?!" Tiago growled. "You bumped into me!"

As they tried to move again, Bia looked down, and saw that they both had one foot trapped in a glob of tree sap.

"Sap!" She gasped.

"What'd you call me?" Tiago glared.

"Tree sap!" Bia pointed. "We're stuck to the branch!"

"Not for long." Tiago declared.

The two pulled with all their might, eventually pulling free of the sap glob. As they stepped back, they realised their problems weren't over; There was still sap sticking their feet together.

"Oh, great." Bia groaned.

"Now what?" Tiago asked.

"We keep pulling." Bia declared.

They tried pulling their legs apart, to no avail; There was too much sap on them.

"I don't believe this!" Tiago groaned. "Stuck to my egghead sister!"

"It's no picnic for me either." Bia growled.

"How do we get this stuff off?" Tiago asked.

"Maybe we can wash it off." Bia surmised. "We've got to get to the clay banks."

"Then what are we waitin' for?" Tiago put a wing around Bia. "Let's fly!"

"No, wait!" Bia yelped.

"Come on!" Tiago dragged her off the branch. "You flap your wing, I'll flap mine!"

As they dropped downwards, they starting flapping their wings. They flew, but very wobbly.

"Whoa!" Tiago yelped. "What's going on?"

"My wings are shorter then yours, remember?" Bia pointed out. "We can't fly evenly like this! We have to land!"

"Nah, we can do this!" Tiago protested.

"We're landing!" Bia insisted.

"No, we're not!" Tiago retorted.

As a result of trying to go in two different directions at once, they ended tumbling out of the sky, crashing into a bush below.

"Good going, Bia." Tiago grumbled, as they climbed out of the bush.

"Me?" Bia gasped. "It was your bad idea to fly!"

"Yeah?" Tiago sneered. "Well, I didn't see you come up with anything, egghead!"

"Well, I am now." Bia declared. "The only thing we can do now is walk to the clay banks. Simple as that."

"Walk?" Tiago frowned. He lifted up his sap-covered foot, lifting Bia's with it. "Seriously?"

"It's our only chance of getting to the clay banks without smacking into a tree." Bia pointed out. "Now, come on."

They started walking, only to trip up as Tiago pulled Bia forward with their sap-stuck legs.

"Ow!" Bia yelped. "Tiago!"

"Sorry." Tiago shrugged.

"We have to work together." Bia told him. "Think of this like a three-legged race. We move our stuck-together legs first, then the free ones. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Tiago said bluntly.

Tentatively, they began their three-legged walk through the jungle.

"I can't believe this." Tiago groaned. "I'm stuck to my know-it-all sister, walking through the middle of the jungle!"

"Keep complaining." Bia deadpanned. "That's really helping."

Just then, there was a rustling in some far-off bushes.

"What was that?" Bia asked warily.

"Don't ask me." Tiago pouted. "I only know how to goof off, remember?"

A black jaguar emerged from the bushes. It was looking right at them.

"Run!" Bia yelped.

The two ran as fast as they could (Present state willing), the jaguar hot on their heels. Bia spotted another clump of bushes.

"This way!" She pointed.

The two turned right sharply. The jaguar skidded on the ground, passing, then turned to follow. By then, Bia and Tiago had hidden in the bushes. The jaguar looked around for its prey.

"It's gonna find us!" Tiago quivered.

"Not if I can help." Bia declared, picking up a pebble.

Bia threw the pebble through a gap in the bush, and it went into another bush, making a loud rustling sound. The jaguar went to investigate the noise, giving Bia and Tiago time to slip through the other side of their bush to freedom.

"Wow." Tiago gaped. "That was... awesome!"

"Shh." Bia shushed him. "We're not out of the woods yet."

"It's a jungle, duh." Tiago said under his breath.

"Just come on." Bia glared. "The further we are from him, the better."

They continued their trek to the clay banks. All too soon, they found their way impended by a large trench.

"We're going to have to go around." Bia surmised.

"No we won't." Tiago countered.

"What do you propose?" Bia asked. "That we climb? The sides are too uneven. We'll barely be able to get a grip."

"We don't need to climb." Tiago pointed out some hanging vines. "We'll just swing our way across."

Tiago dragged Bia onto a log, which was angled so that they could reach the lowest vine.

"I don't know about this." Bia frowned. "There are so many variables. So many undesirable outcomes..."

"There you go again." Tiago rolled his eyes. "Less thinking, more doing!"

A loud growl drew their attention; The jaguar had followed their trail.

"Oh, no!" Bia gasped.

"Come on, sis!" Tiago urged, as the jaguar ran towards them. "Now or never!"

"Okay, let's do it!" Bia nodded.

"Follow my lead!" Tiago declared, biting onto the vine.

Bia bit on the vine too, and together, they leapt off the log, narrowly avoiding the jaguar's claws. As they swung over the trench, Bia had to fight urge to scream. Tiago, on the other hand, let out a muffled "Whoo-hoo!" As they reached the other side of the trench, they let go, their fall broken by some flowers.

"That... that was..." Bia mumbled breathlessly. "That was... kinda fun."

"See what happens when you cut back on the thinking?" Tiago smirked. "Who was right? I was right."

"Don't push it."Bia glared. "You can gloat after we're free."

"Oh, I will." Tiago sniggered.

The next leg of their trek brought to a sharp incline, too steep to walk down.

"Any ideas?" Tiago asked Bia.

"I thought thinking was bad?" Bia smirked.

"Only when it's not important." Tiago shrugged.

Bia looked around, spotting some fallen leaves.

"These are just what we need." She picked one up.

"Huh?" Tiago frowned.

"These leaves are known for their slickness and resilience." Bia pointed out. "We can slide down the slope on them."

"Slide?" Tiago perked up. "Sounds like fun."

Standing at the edge of the slope, they leapt forward, riding on one of the larger leaves.

"Whoa!" Tiago cheered, as they slid down. "Awesome!"

"You think so?" Bia smiled mischievously. "Try this on for size!"

Bia pulled the leaf to the right, then the left, making slalom down the slope.

"Yeah!" Tiago cheered as they reached the bottom. "Nice one, sis!"

"Still don't think I know how to have real fun?" Bia grinned.

"Well, maybe you know a little..." Tiago admitted.

They soon neared the end of their trek, the clay banks becoming visible in the distance.

"Almost there." Bia noted.

"Good, because my feet are killing me." Tiago groaned.

A familiar growl rang through the jungle; The jaguar had found them.

"Oh, come on!" Tiago yelled. "Seriously?!"

"Run!" Bia yelped.

The two young siblings ran as fast as they could, but a wrong turn resulted in a tree in their path. The jaguar slinked towards.

"This is it." Bia gulped. "We're lunch."

Tiago's eyes darted around with fear. In mere moments, he saw everything around them, and hit upon a plan.

"Not yet, we're not." He declared, picking up a fallen Brazil nut.

Tiago flung the Brazil nut, which sailed past the jaguar.

"That was your big save?!" Bia screeched.

"Wait for it..." Tiago declared.

The Brazil nut deflected off a tree, and hit a fallen twig, which flung a pebble into the air. The pebble struck a stingless bee hive, which fell... right on top of the jaguar. The bees started biting the jaguar, drawing it's attention away from it's prospective lunch.

"Come on, let's move!" Tiago urged Bia.

They went around the tree, and made their way to the clay banks.

"You did all that... on purpose?" Bia asked.

"Yep." Tiago nodded.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that was pretty smart, Tiago." Bia admitted.

"Thanks." Tiago grinned. "Not such a birdbrain after all, huh?"

"Definitely not." Bia smiled.

As they reached the clay banks, they found Mimi.

"Oh, my." Mimi appraised them. "What happened to you two?"

"Long story." Tiago declared.

"Can you help us get this sap off, aunt Mimi?" Bia asked.

"Of course." Mimi nodded. She flew over and picked a berry, then returned. "Nothing to it. A little berry juice." She squeezed the berry, covering the sap with juice. "Then you just soak it in water for a little while."

Bia and Tiago dipped their feet in the river. After a little while, the sap dissolved, and they were free.

"Yes!" Tiago cheered. "Finally!"

"Thanks, aunt Mimi." Bia smiled.

"You're welcome, dear." Mimi chuckled.

"Glad that's over, huh?" Tiago asked.

"Yeah..." Bia mused. "Tiago, I owe you an apology. "You're not a goof-off. You're fun, and... actually pretty smart when you need to be."

"Thanks." Tiago beamed. "And, you know... for an egghead, you can be pretty fun yourself."

"You know, we wouldn't have made it out of that mess if we hadn't worked together." Bia declared. "We actually make a pretty good team."

"Oh, yeah." Tiago nodded. "Just call us 'Biago'! Or maybe 'Tia'..."

"I wouldn't go that far." Bia rolled her eyes.

"So... you wanna hang out some more?" Tiago suggested. "You could teach me how to do that slidey-leaf thing."

"Only if you show me how you did that nut trick." Bia countered.

"Deal." Tiago grinned.

Mimi looked on as the two chicks flew off.

"Ah, kids." She smiled.

To Be Continued...

(Rio 2 and all associated characters are the property of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox.)